When I first became a health coach, I wasn't sure how I was going to help people. I mean, I knew what I'd been taught and I'd worked with other health coach students, but I truly didn't know what to expect. 

I was nervous starting out, as we all are when starting something new. And truthfully, I'm still nervous when I meet with a new client, but I've absolutely loved every minute of it. I've loved helping people reach their goals a whole heck of a lot faster than I did! 

Most people don't know that health coaches exist. I certainly didn't. When I was having my hormonal issues, fatigued out the yin yang, and had zero energy, I did everything under the sun to figure it all out. I went to doctor after doctor trying to find an answer to why I was feeling the way I was feeling. 

Most of them said I was perfectly healthy. Others wanted to put me on medication. Like, extreme medication. Um, no thank you. 

So I went on the journey to get healthy all on my own. It took me far longer than I ever thought to figure it all out. I went vegetarian for almost 4 years. Then went vegan for one year. At one point, I thought if I took anything else out of my diet that I would be eating dirt! 

I was miserable! And I didn't know what was going on. But thankfully I am a google junkie and I was bound and determined to figure it all out! A sugar detox kick started my health journey. And it led me to the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. And I'm so very thankful it did! 

I knew all of the principles, but being able to put them in play and help myself, as well as my family and friends and then clients, was amazing. There are so many realms of wellness, not just the physical part. And when even one part of that wellness spectrum is out of whack, your whole system is out of whack.

I knew that feeling really well, I just didn't know how to put it into words or how to fix it. Until I became a health coach! 

So, you may be asking, why do people hire a health coach? 

People hire a health coach because they have goals they want to reach, but they don't know where to start. They don't know what they need to do to get there, and they've been struggling to figure it out on their own. They've tried everything under the sun to get to where they want to be, but nothing they're trying is working. 

Believe me when I say I've been there. 100%. It's frustrating. And can be so demoralizing. It feels like you take one step forward, then something happens and you fall two steps back. And when you're doing it all on your own, it makes it that much harder to stay focused and on track and accountable to yourself. 

Not only do health coaches help you pin point your goals, but they provide guidance and help you see what areas of your life have been out of whack. It often takes an outside party to help you see exactly what's going on...or isn't in some cases. And most important, health coaches provide accountability. Someone to help you stay on track and keep moving forward to reach your goals. To get your wellness spectrum back on track! 

I've loved watching the journeys of all my clients. It saddens me when they "graduate" and no longer need my assistance, but their growth and health and wellness make it all 100% worth it! My clients learn so much during their time working with me and watching them put it into play in their lives, even after we're done working together, is amazing. 

Don't get me wrong though. A health coach doesn't do the work for you. YOU do the work. A health coach provides the guidance, helps you see where you want to go. But if you don't commit and do the work, no changes will be made. Remember, nothing changes if nothing changes. 

So if you're ready to make changes, I'm here to help! I love my job and am dedicated to all of my clients 100%. I'd love to chat with you and see if we're a good fit to work together! Our first meeting is always FREE :) 

I hope y'all have an amazing week! Stay safe! 

With love and wellness, 
​Whitney

In light of everything going on, Nick and I have decided to put our Dave Ramsey baby steps on hold. We have the extra money to pay off his car right now, but as the uncertainty of what's going on increases, we decided it would be best to ensure our monthly bills going forward are covered...especially if both of us are unable to work if/when we are quarantined. 

My only wish is that we would have started this journey a long time before we did. We knew about it, we had the book, we were on a "budget," but it wasn't working for us. Clearly, since we weren't really doing anything about it. 

I hate having to put it on hold, but I know it's the smartest thing to do right now. I also hate the unknown. Which makes the situation we're in all the more scary.

Believe me, I know it's difficult right now not knowing what's going to happen or how long it's going to go on. But try to take it all one day at a time. There's not much we can control right now, other than ourselves and our actions. So do what you can. Stay home as much as possible. Wash your hands often. Be mindful of who you're around...aka, steer clear of people hacking up a lung! 

It's a scary time...the unknown. I'm working on keeping my anxiety low by doing just what I recommended above. Controlling what I can. I certainly don't mind being home with the dogs right now. They love the snuggles and I know it's keeping me and my loved ones safe. 

I also know it's not easy. Changing your routine. Staying home. Having the kids at home. But if we all do our part, this will be over sooner rather than later.

Yes, we may be over-reacting, but I don't know about y'all...I'd rather over-react than under-react. If we all stay home and none of us get sick, isn't that a win? Yes, it disrupts our lives, but we all stay healthy and happy and safe. Again, I call that a win. 

What are you doing to help weather this storm? What tips and tricks are you using? Or better yet, what are you getting done around the house? 

I'll be honest...I haven't gotten much of anything done. It's been nice to just slow down and rest and relax. I tend to be on the go more often than not, without much down time, so it's been a nice change.

I do know that will have to change though. I can't continue binge watching Amazon Prime, Hulu, and NetFlix. I'll have to get a little something done if we're going to be stuck at home for several weeks. Nick and I are going to take on re-arranging the garage gym and hopefully sealing the floor and walls from where all the water seeped in. We also have some painting we want done, so what better time than now to do it? 

I'm putting it out in the world so hopefully it will happen :) We shall see, right? For now, I'm enjoying the rest and relaxation. Things will get done in their own time. 

I hope you're doing the same too. Try not to stress too much and remember, take one day at a time. Control what you can. And let the rest go. 

Have a beautiful week. 

With love and wellness,
​Whitney

In the midst of all this chaos, please remember to be kind. We are all in the same boat right now. Nobody knows what's going to happen, we're all asked to limit our activity and stay home, and all kids are being kept out of school. This isn't happening TO YOU, it's happening FOR US. 

It's to keep us all safe. To minimize the spread of an apparently very contagious disease. Do I know much about it? Nope. I am definitely not an expert, but I am going to listen to what they're asking. I'd rather stay home as much as possible, avoid either getting sick or spreading it to my family and loved ones, and move on to the other side of this craziness. 

We'll all get through this, if we're responsible and smart and KIND to one another.

I've read so many stories that have brought me to tears. Like, streaming down my face tears. The number of people who were unable to find toilet paper and other basic necessities, who went from store to store trying to find things. Our older generation, especially, has a difficult time getting in and out of places, but they've had to go from store to store to find these things. 

Why, please tell me why, we are hoarding this stuff. I get it...people think we will be on lock down and they'll run out. But we aren't on lockdown. We've been asked to limit our public exposure and go out only as needed. And yes, that includes trips to the grocery stores. They didn't ask us to hoard all the supplies possible and keep others from having the same luxuries. 

If you're one of those people who got too much of one thing, please be kind and share with your neighbors or people who you know who may not have enough. Don't price gouge and sell it to people just to make a buck. 

Let's remember that we are all in this together. We are all trying to live through this, whatever this ends up being. 

And there are people out there who are still working, still stocking shelves at the stores, still working in our hospitals and doctors' offices, still making deliveries to people's houses, still helping everyone else.

Be kind to them. Be kind to your neighbors. Be kind to everyone. 

This is the time it's needed most. This is the time to remember we are all a part of this. It's all an unknown. And we'll get through this together. 

Have a beautiful week. Spend time with your family. Stay home as much as you can. Be kind to one another. 

With love and wellness,
​Whitney

Nick and I have been talking about paying off our debt for awhile now. But that's all we were doing...just talking about it. Nothing ever changed. We didn't make any forward progress. But we did a really good job of talking about it. 

You know that quote, "Nothing changes if nothing changes?" Well, that was us. All talk, no action. And we were sick of it. 

Finally, after living in our new house for months and painting our bedroom, we got our bookshelves hung up and our books unpacked. One of the books was Dave Ramsey's "The Total Money Makeover." So I decided it was time for me to read it.

And I think I was done with it in a matter of days. I soaked in all the knowledge. All the information. Everything he had to share. And I told Nick about it, and that I was all in. I wanted to do something different for our lives. To stop living paycheck to paycheck and trying to dig ourselves out of a hole every month. I was sick and tired of it. 

So he read it next. And I mean, every spare second he had, he was reading. We were FINALLY getting on the same page with our finances and what we wanted to do for our family. 

And it was scary. Deciding we were going to do this and then moving forward with it. The first step was removing all of our credit cards from our wallets (our safety net!) and changing all our subscription orders from being charged to the credit cards. Instead, we set them up to be debited directly from our checking account. Which means we had to budget and be prepared for it! 

That was the second step. Actually sitting down and budgeting and accounting for EVERY. SINGLE. PENNY. we spent. There were several months we'd get to the end of the month and I'd wonder where all our money went. We knew we had enough, but good grief, where was it all going?! 

It was surprising to see just how much we spent on little things. Amazon. Vitamin Shoppe. Kill Cliff. Advocare. Red Box. Starbucks. Eating out when we weren't planning to. More Amazon. More Vitamin Shoppe. More. More. More. 

Turns out we had a lot of extra money...we were just recklessly spending it. So, that was the first major adjustment in our budget. We are now tracking literally every penny that we spend. We track it all. We plan for everything. We set it aside so we're never caught off guard when it's debited. We know exactly where our money is going. 

The third step we took, and this one was hard for me, was taking the extra money we had in savings and dumping it on our first debt. For you see, Dave Ramsey's Baby Step 1 is to save $1,000 in an emergency fund. And anything extra should be used to start paying down your debt. 

Oh, this one was painful for me. I hate depleting our savings account. But we took it and paid it to Nick's car, our first debt in Baby Step 2. Baby Step 2 is paying off all your debt, using the snowball method, where you pay off debt in order of smallest to largest, gaining momentum as you knock out each balance. We are then taking any extra money we have each month and putting it towards our debt too. 

Y'all, we will have Nick's car paid off THIS MONTH! Nick has been killing it at work, I've picked up more clients, PLUS we got a nice tax return this year! We set things in motion and the universe has been answering! 

It's crazy how the universe conspires for you when you set a plan in motion. We have gazelle-like intensity with this. We're sick of paying more money in interest (that could be going to investing or saving for a fantastic vacation!) every month. So once Nick's car is paid off, we'll be dumping all that money onto my car. And the last debt we'll have after that is our small mortgage.

I CAN NOT WAIT to have these debts paid off!

As of right now, we are set to have them paid off by January 2022. However, we are working our butts off to have them paid off well before then! Our initial plan was to put an extra $300 towards our debt, but we've literally taken every extra cent we've had and paid it towards our debt. 

Nick and I are both so excited about our journey into "Operation Debt Free." We have the same goals. We want the same things. We are working to make our lives different. We're living how others won't, so we can live how others can't. 

​It's hard. It's an adjustment. But it's doable. And we WILL make it happen.

​Let me know if you have any questions about Dave Ramsey and his money makeover. Or, of course, click the link above and read more about it. I'd love to chat with you about it :) 

Hope y'all have an amazing week! 

With love and wellness, 
​Whitney

There's a freedom in letting things go. We don't always know what will happen after the fact, but holding on doesn't do anything but hold us back. 

For instance, I held on to a job for too long, afraid of what would come next. I hadn't been happy in awhile, but I couldn't see what my life would look like without it. It had been such a staple in my life for so long that I had no idea what would happen after I left. 

However, I've found, in my short time since letting go, that more opportunities have opened up for me than I ever thought possible. I've found a creativity I'd lost over the last several months. I feel a freedom, a power in creating my own schedule, running my own business, focusing on my passions, that I haven't felt in a long time. 

I know it's not easy to let go of things that have been in your life for a long time. I know it's not easy to see what comes after the fact. But if you've been unhappy, unsettled, uneasy, in any part of your life, most likely, it's time to let go. It may not always be easy to put your finger on what exactly is bothering you, but you know something is wrong. You can feel it. 

It's where I was for several months before finally deciding it was time. I was unsettled, unhappy, uneasy. I couldn't find peace in anything I was doing. I didn't have energy to do much of my own thing, let alone the normal everyday things I had to do. All I wanted to do was be lazy, nap on the couch, and snuggle with the dogs. I didn't feel like myself at all. 

And I kept asking my friends and family what I should do. If I should leave. If I should stay. If I should change something. Just the fact that I was asking meant I knew what I needed to do. But I was scared. Change from what we know is scary. Change from the norm is scary. Change in general is scary.

But in order to grow, in order to open up new possibilities for ourselves, we have to be open to change. We have to be willing to let go of things that no longer serve us. We have to be open to new things. 

It's still all new, but I'm so happy I finally a) made the decision to leave, and b) opened myself up to new possibilities. I needed the change. It was long overdue. Way overdue. 

I'm all about growth this year. And it may have taken me two months into 2020 to figure that out, but I wasn't going to grow if I stayed where I was. And in order to grow, change was necessary. 

So what change do you need to make? What are you uneasy or unsettled or unhappy about? That's usually a huge sign that it's time for change. 

I'd love to chat with you, help you figure it out. 

Have a beautiful week, y'all! 

With love and wellness,
​Whitney